


Escape

by orphan_account



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:40:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23520109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: There’s something scripted in the way Kara moves. It’s clean and graceful. The klutzy act she had perfected in high school is gone. Kara sighs for just the right length of time, glances down and back up in a perfect arc, and meets Alex’s eyes with the perfect amount of regret swimming in them.ORThe one where Alex and Kara reunite three years after Kara disappeared and have to figure out how they fit into each others lives again.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 6
Kudos: 119





	Escape

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't fully happy with this but I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Hope you like it anyways. :D

Perhaps Kara had a very bad case of amnesia. Or maybe someone was controlling her. Or she was brainwashed? Maybe she made a promise and, being her, she wouldn’t break it. That’s probably it. There couldn’t be any other reason why she would have left only to show up on facial recognition software three years later. There must be something else.  
————————  
Standing on the doorstep of a very normal, suburban house, Alex was beginning to wonder if she had the wrong address. This was all far too…normal. Far too bland for Kara. Kara is Supergirl and there is no way Supergirl has a broken doorbell.

And yet it appears she does. Alex is stricken for a moment by just how much Kara has changed. She's not wearing glasses, but she doesn’t really need to. She has bangs now, a rosy tint to her cheeks, and she’s glowing. She looks happy. Or at least she would if she wasn’t so shocked.

“Hey, sis! It’s been a long time.” Alex let herself in, pointedly making eye contact with Kara as she wipes her boots on the welcome mat. Ask not for whom the dog barks, it barks for thee. There’s not even a dog. There’s no way Kara has such a strange door mat. But she does, and it leaves Alex feeling like she just let herself into a stranger’s home.

It’s not that she’s mad at Kara, per se. Is she upset that Kara didn’t say goodbye? She used to be. Did she grieve for Kara, thinking her dead for the past three years? Maybe. Does her heart hurt to realize Kara was fifteen miles outside the city? Yes. But she’s not mad. Looking at Kara in that moment, all Alex feels is a wave of relief to know her little sister is alive and well. And maybe a little anger.

“H-hey.” Kara stutters. “Hey.” Alex tries her best to look unfazed by the awkward silence between Kara and her. It was never awkward between them, but three years is a long time for a lot of unspoken problems to go ignored.

“So I see you’ve been busy,” Alex starts. She hooks her thumb through the belt loop of her pants, trying to look casual. By the look on Kara’s face she’s failing. She sighs and looks down for a moment before meeting Kara’s eyes. She decides to forgo any niceties. “It’s been three years, Kara.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She genuinely looks the part, but there’s something about the way she’s standing that tells Alex she doesn’t regret the pain she’s caused one bit. Kara looks nervous, yes, but confident and defiant as well. There’s something in her eyes that tells Alex she is an unwelcome intrusion and Alex feels bewildered.

“Will you at least tell me why?” Alex tries. Kara just sighs, mirroring Alex’s actions and it makes Alex’s heart ache for the sister she had come looking for. The sister she will, evidently, not be finding. 

There’s something scripted in the way Kara moves. It’s clean and graceful. The klutzy act she had perfected in high school is gone. Kara sighs for just the right length of time, glances down and back up in a perfect arc, and meets Alex’s eyes with the perfect amount of regret swimming in them.

“She thought it would be better if nobody knew where we were. If we could have a fresh start.” Kara offers a smile before moving to pass Alex. “Want a drink? I’ve got red wine if you’re still into that.” Alex stopped drinking ages ago, but in the moment, all Alex can do is trail after Kara, her face a picture of confusion.

“You never liked red wine. It doesn’t even affect you. And who is this ‘she’ you mentioned?” Alex accepts the glass Kara slides into her hand as she looks around the kitchen. It’s pristine with white granite counters, white drawers, and accents of silver and black. It’s minimalist and cold and nothing like Kara. The aesthetic reminds Alex of someone but their name and face are buried so far down in the recesses of her brain that she doesn’t care to remember who. She turns to Kara again, who has a glass of red wine to her lips. “You drink now?”

“Only on special occasions.”

“And this is a special occasion,” Alex asks warily.

“It’s a reunion.” Kara shrugs and continues sipping at her wine. “Plus I like the taste.” At that Alex’s brain nearly explodes. She leans over the island to look at Kara, who also leans in. She seems surprised by how easy it was to fall into old habits. Years of hushed conversations with Alex make it easy to lean towards her.

“Blink twice if you're being mind controlled,” Alex says. Kara blinks once, twice. Three times. Then she bursts out laughing.

“I’m not being mind controlled, Alex. You’ll meet the woman I’m talking about if you stay past five. She’s got an office job. I’ll explain when she’s here.” Kara swallows the remainder of her wine in one large gulp before, once again, moving to pass Alex. “I’ll be in the study if you need me. It’s just down the hall and to the right. Can’t miss it. Feel free to look around.” And then she’s gone, leaving Alex feeling very out of place all alone in the kitchen.  
————————  
At half past five Alex has begun to wonder if this mystery woman really exists. Kara came out of her study at exactly 4:45 to prepare dinner. Alex was ready to call a fire truck but the lasagna in front of her was practically perfect in every way. It’s all so domestic. She is growing tired of being surprised by Kara. She used to know her little sister so well. At least some things never change; Kara still eats food like a vacuum. 

At exactly 6 o’clock, Alex hears the beep of a car, the jangle of keys, and the slam of a door in quick succession. And Kara lights up like a Christmas tree.

“I warned her you were here,” Kara says quickly. She promptly gets up and runs to the garage door to drag the woman into the dining area. “Don’t be mad.” Alex doesn’t know whether Kara is talking to her or to the mystery woman.  
————————  
Thirty minutes later and Alex is still mad. Kara was talking to her.

How else was she supposed to react when Kara came trotting in, dragging Lena motherf—Alex needs to calm down. She needs to sit down, take a deep breath, and chug a glass of wine before she faces the situation in front of her. So she does exactly that. Now she’s ready.

“So.” Alex stares at the pair of them tersely. They’re perched innocently on an ivory couch. Kara is sitting five feet apart from the woman in a failed attempt to mask the fact that they’re wearing matching wedding bands. Alex shifts her gaze onto the woman: Lena Luthor. In the flesh. Alex had never actually met the woman. The most she’d interacted with her was cursing her name while waiting for Kara to wake up under the sun lamps. And now…now Alex is looking straight into her evil green eyes and feeling vaguely guilty because they don’t look evil at all. They look like a meadow in the spring.

“So.” Kara says. “This is Lena.”

“I know who she is, Kara,” Alex snaps. She thinks it might have been a bit harsh but memories of Kara falling through the sky, veins glowing a sickly neon green, flash through her mind and she thinks it wasn’t harsh enough. “Do you have Stockholm syndrome or something? Don’t you remember what she put you through? What she put all of us through?”

Lena has the good sense to stay quiet but Kara looks enraged and begins talking a mile a minute. Too fast for Alex to comprehend. Lena places a gentle hand on Kara’s shoulder and Kara huffs angrily. She looks Alex dead in the eye.

“She’s a good person. If you can’t be nice, you can’t be here.” It’s like a slap in the face but instead of subduing Alex, it makes her angrier. She holds back.

“Then explain. Explain why, after three years of torture, of not knowing if you were dead or alive and in pain, I show up at work to discover you’ve shown up on facial recognition at a grocery store fifteen minutes outside the city. Explain why I’ve found you here in a house that the Kara I know would have hated.”

“Fine,” Kara snaps. “Do you remember the day Lena said she was going to blow up the DEO?”

“You’re off to a great start.”  
————————  
three years ago

“Lena Luthor!” Kara had her hands on her hips, hair billowing and looking like a true superhero. (“That’s a very kind description of me, Lena.” “Well, it’s how I remember you.” “Get on with the story, Kara.” “Sorry, Alex.”)

“Ah, here to arrest me or something, Kara? I think we both know that never seems to work out for you.” Lena was tinkering with some machine on top of the DEO’s smallest satellite. Kara wondered how she got there, especially in a three piece suit.

“I can’t just let you blow up this building so what would you propose I do?” There was something about Lena that irked Kara. Maybe it was her cold confidence. Lena was always so sure she would get away untouched. She always does, a little voice chimed in Kara’s mind. Maybe Lena’s confidence was slightly warranted.

“I don’t know. You’ve got a real predicament, Supergirl. Unfortunately, it’s not my job to figure it out for you. I’m trying to finish this bomb.”

Kara scoffed before shooting lasers near Lena’s hands. Lena didn’t flinch.

“You’ve got to actually hit me one day. Then maybe I’ll be nervous.” She paused. “Well?”

“I don’t hurt people. Not unless I need to.” Kara had held fast to that rule of hers. Nobody gets hurt if she can manage it. It weighs too heavily on her to know she caused pain. But maybe—just maybe—she wouldn’t mind wiping the smug look off of Lena’s face. “Clearly you and I have different standards.”

“Clearly.” (“Kara, do you seriously remember every word this woman has ever said?” “She has very nice words.”)

Kara swooped in to land beside Lena who was still infallible in her ability to predict Kara’s every move. She had shifted ever so slightly to the side to give Kara space to land. Kara just looked at her. Lena looked so severe from afar but up close she looked like any other twenty-four year old. Young and beautiful.

“Don’t throw your life away.”

“I’m not.” Lena sounded almost defensive.

“Did you really think you’d be able to just blow up the DEO and get away with it? Plus, blowing stuff up isn’t your usual MO.” Lena sighed, turning to face Kara and taking her hands off of the machine for the first time. “If you come quietly I can help you.”

“I never come quietly,” Lena said, a smirk on her face. Kara felt a blush creeping up her neck.

“You know what I mean.”

“It’s not like you haven’t thrown your life away as well. You’ll always be split in half. Superhero and journalist.” That caught Kara’s attention.

“You know who I really am?”

Lena laughed dryly. “I’m a genius level intellect, Supergirl. Of course I do.”

“I don’t mind being a superhero. It doesn’t wreck my life like being a supervillain would. I get to help people and make the world better.”

“What thanks do you get from that?” Lena asked. She almost seemed genuinely curious. (“I was genuinely curious. I’d never met someone so selflessly virtuous.”)

“I’m not doing it for thanks,” Kara said, a strange look on her face. “I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do. Because, if I have these powers, I should use them for good.”

“But what do you want to do?” Lena asked. Kara was growing frustrated.

“Well what do you want to do? You certainly haven’t dreamt of blowing up a building all your life,” she snapped. A voice in her comms told her people were coming up. She just had to hold Lena there. She crossed her arms and strengthened her stance.

“I want…to live in a simple house with a simple life and a simple job and a wife.”

Kara’s brain malfunctioned. Her thoughts strayed so far from the conversation at the idea of Lena’s dream. It was an out. A possible escape. For both of them.

“That sounds nice…” She said softly. Lena almost looked surprised. “We could run away, you know. And do that. Pretend we both died today or something. Move to the countryside.” Lena scrunched her nose at that and Kara quickly backtracked. “Uh…hah. Nevermind. Forget I said anything. Um…put your hands up or…something.”

“I just never pictured living in the countryside. I always thought I’d be in the peaceful outskirts of some city.” Lena smiled softly. “I’ll run with you if you want.”

“It doesn’t have to be the countryside,” Kara said. She nodded, growing serious. “Alright, we’ve got to make this look real. Shoot me.”

Lena fumbled a bit with the tablet in her hands. “I don’t have anything to shoot you with.”

“What? You always have that little gun in your boot.”

“I don’t carry a gun when I’m setting off a bomb,” Lena mumbled.

“Well, why not?” Kara groaned, exasperated. “It’s fine. I’ll just go get one.” She sped into the DEO faster than could be seen. She passed Alex, causing her to slow for a moment before continuing into the armory for a taser gun with kryptonite wiring. She was back before Lena could protest and pushed the taser into her hands.

“I’m not going to shoot you Kara,” Lena deadpanned.

“Oh, so now you don’t want to shoot me. Three weeks ago you had no problem with it.” Kara turned the taser so it faced her and stepped to the edge of the satellite they were precariously balanced on. “Look, it’s easy!” She pressed the trigger.

Falling was easy. Peaceful even. She grabbed Lena’s arm at the last second and they clung to one another.

“What is wrong with you!” Lena shouted, but there was laughter in her voice. Kara let them hit the ground. Let them make a crater. She let the security cameras see her lay there, exhausted. But she didn’t let them see Lena, who was chuckling beneath her cape.

Then they were gone.  
————————  
The room is quiet. Kara and Lena are no longer five feet apart and are instead pressed against one another, hands intertwined. Their love is sweet but it washes over Alex like honey.

“That was dramatic,” Alex grumbles, and she gets up for another glass of wine.

Kara deflates and follows after her. Alex is already beginning to rant in the short walk from the living room to the kitchen.

“So you’re telling me you saw me as you flew through the DEO and barely gave your decision a second thought? You chose her over everyone. Over J’onn and Winn and James. Over Mom. I had to call and tell her you were dead. We already put her through this with Dad. How do I tell her I was wrong? I’m happy for you. Or at least I’m trying to be. It’s just…you left behind a tragedy while you lived out this fairy tale.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara says. Alex scrutinizes her. She sees none of the acting that she noticed when she first walked in. “I just needed an escape. I didn’t realize how much I needed an escape.”

“I’m glad you found your happy ending.” Alex means it, but there’s still a bite to her words. The unspoken remainder of the sentence. While we all grieved. It’s unfair of Alex to guilt Kara about being happy and she knows it but the pain she felt when she lost Kara tells her she’s justified.

“I’m not going to lie and say she was a good person back then. But, she wasn’t a terrible person either. And now she’s my wife, so she’s technically your sister, too.” Kara looks hopeful, but Alex is just scowling. She can hear Eliza telling her Kara is right. Telling her to move on.

Lena tentatively walks into the kitchen, sliding up beside Kara and placing an arm around her waist.

“I’m still deciding your fate,” Alex says coldly.

“That’s fine. I’m happy I got these three years with Kara.” Lena leans her head on Kara’s shoulder. They’re so lovey-dovey it makes Alex feel strange. Like there’s a ball of emotions sitting in the bottom of her stomach.

“I’m going home,” she says abruptly. She dumps her wine into the sink, placing the glass carelessly in the sink where it balances precariously between two forks.

“Will I see you again?” Kara asks. Alex looks at her. She’s a strange amalgamation of the Kara she used to know and a new Kara. One with a little less empathy and a lot more confidence. She’s not the Kara that Alex came looking for and Alex can’t help but feel an irrational resentment for the person she’s become.

“I don’t know.”  
————————  
Events happen in threes.

First, Kara shows up at the DEO in her old Supergirl uniform. But it has pants. Alex commends her on the change before leaving the DEO altogether. Kara doesn’t follow.

Second, Kara begins working as Supergirl again. She releases a statement through CatCo that she was taking an extended break to heal and allow her mental health to recover. The people of National City rejoiced at her return. Alex watched her speech from her couch, clutching painfully tight to the armrest.

Third, Lena Luthor returned under the alias Kieran Danvers, wife of the late Kara Danvers, who did not survive the return of Supergirl. (“It’s just not practical for me to always be split in two. I’ll miss being a reporter, sure, but Lena makes enough for the both of us.”) Alex almost dies seeing Lena’s “disguise”. She’s wearing semi-professional clothes—a button up, polka-dot shirt and suit pants—and has her hair up in a ponytail. To finish the look, she’s wearing black-rimmed glasses. The biggest difference is that she’s no longer using an American accent. The Irish in her shines through and Alex has half a mind to give her only green items for the rest of her life.

It occurs to Alex, three months after Kara’s return, that she’s going to have to let go of the idea of New Kara versus Old Kara. There is only Present Kara and she’s going to have to take what she can get. Even if that means taking a Luthor as well.

Getting to know Lena, or rather Kieran, encourages Alex to take a step back. Perhaps she was being a bit stubborn. Kieran (Alex can’t call her Lena without thinking about what Lena has done. Kieran is new. Kieran has a clean slate.) is a good person. Funny. Kind. Super rich. Alex questions where she gets money from but Kieran has a way of avoiding questions she doesn’t want to answer. Like if she actually needs glasses.

It’s strange to be seated at a table with her friends, her father figure, her superhero sister, and her supervillain sister-in-law, but Alex wakes up every day to the words, “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome,” and maybe they’re starting to get to her. It had been Old Kara’s idea to put the little placard on her wall. Alex thought it was silly but nowadays she could really use the encouragement.

To achieve some semblance of normality, Alex decided she would give Kieran the shovel talk. She didn’t know if she was really that scary or if Kieran was trying to be nice, but Kieran walked away from their talk nervously and approached Alex with caution.

It took seven months to repair her relationship with Kara. Seven months of therapy and screaming and crying to finally feel comfortable with Kara. To look at her and not feel the pain of her leaving. To understand that both of them had baggage the other can’t help.

She can brush aside the strange circumstances of her growth, though. She can dismiss the faults of the past. If it led her here, it was all worth it.


End file.
